OBJECTIVES: I. Determine the overall response rate, onset and duration of partial and complete responses, and duration of stable disease in patients with recurrent metastatic colorectal cancer treated with oxaliplatin. II. Determine the overall survival of patients treated with this drug. III. Determine the proportion of patients with tumor-related symptomatic improvement and time to tumor-related symptomatic worsening in patients treated with this drug. IV. Determine the time to disease progression in patients treated with this drug. V. Determine the proportion of patients achieving stable disease when treated with this drug. VI. Determine the safety of this drug in this patient population.